TaleWorlds News: New News Necessary for the OT Neophytes

[Antonis]

I know for certain that they took down a series of planned lectures on Russian lit in the university of Crete, the ministry of culture cancelled forcefully the Bolshoi ballets, I think the Swan Lake, this year. I'm from Greece, obviously.
As for the more recent wars, except that last one, as portrayed by the media and of course, the government, here: "yeaaaah, the war is bad, heavy losses on both sides, but maaaaaaybe these people who got invaded had it coming. Anyway, onto other news."
In this instance, the war played almost 24/7, now it has died down a bit. Still big news, but less so. And of course, very one-sided opinions.

So, you'll have to excuse me if I don't really trust what I'm reading by the media. Maybe it's different elsewhere, but I have learned to distrust anything I see or read portrayed as "the truth".

 

[Kentucky 『 ＨＥＩＧＵＩ 』 James]

And of course you could maybe perhaps possibly argue that invading a nation ruled by a dictatorial government which commits actual acts of genocide against it's own people for the purpose of regime change is not quite the same as invading a neighbouring democracy in order to annex it,

Both are acts of aggression. The reasoning is just the sprinkling the ruling classes invent to pretend that the war is just. Even if you assume all the accusations of genocide, WMDs and war crimes coming out of the west are true (most of them aren't), destroying a country half way across the globe is still insane. Imagine if during the 1960s american civil rights movements, the USSR carpet bombed the entire east coast and replaced the government under the pretense of "liberating" them, and that's basically what the US has done in most of the middle east over the last few decades.

 

[Antoine de Saint-Exupéry]

Also this "read my mind peasants, I don't want to communicate clearly".

trusting in you to be able to parse subtext is not expecting you to read minds. if you choose to be so affronted by fairly mild snark that you refuse to think about what is being said, that's fine, but it doesn't say much about me.

 

[Mad Vader]

trusting in you to be able to parse subtext is not expecting you to read minds. if you choose to be so affronted by fairly mild snark that you refuse to think about what is being said, that's fine, but it doesn't say much about me.

You are just doing it again. "I'm lazy and it's everyone else's fault because they are stupid."
No. You either make some effort to communicate, or you drop the "I could tell you why you are wrong, but you are too ignorant for me to bother", which is straight up baiting.

Both are acts of aggression. The reasoning is just the sprinkling the ruling classes invent to pretend that the war is just. Even if you assume all the accusations of genocide, WMDs and war crimes coming out of the west are true (most of them aren't), destroying a country half way across the globe is still insane. Imagine if during the 1960s american civil rights movements, the USSR carpet bombed the entire east coast and replaced the government under the pretense of "liberating" them, and that's basically what the US has done in most of the middle east over the last few decades.

Dude, you went full anti-US, that's not what critical thinking is for. Of course most of the recent US interventions had very good causes and the US were doing regional fire-fighting in interests of stability and because of domestic and international pressure to act (and stability is good for business, especially in a globalized world).
The prime example is Libya where there was no reason for the West to topple Gaddafi, who was accommodating and not making trouble. The Arab Spring gave people ideas and they began to rebel, so he went on to brutally crush them. The liberal press began to make a case for an intervention, so the West collectively made the decision that he is done for, because they might as well speed up the process and save the region protracted civil war and all the death and destruction it brings (and disruption to oil business).
That the outcome was virtual anarchy in Libya because of the factions vying for power, is not on the US, it's on the Libyan factions and their outside sponsors (none of which is US). And then all you get from the anti-US people on the internet (and especially the Arabs) is how the Great Satan destroyed Libya and it's no one else's fault. Same goes for Syria, as if the US had anything to do with it.
Only Iraq stands as a pure US imperialist project in the recent past, but that doesn't make every US intervention imperialist.

 

[Antoine de Saint-Exupéry]

"I'm lazy and it's everyone else's fault because they are stupid."

it is admittedly extremely funny that you interpret it like this when i literally said i generally think of you as smart enough to figure it out even if you choose not to, and that it is fine if you choose not to.

 

[BenKenobi]

Only Iraq stands as a pure US imperialist project in the recent past, but that doesn't make every US intervention imperialist.

As unfortunate and stupid as the whole Iraq invasion was, there still was a UNSC Resolution regarding WMDs that Iraq has not complied with in that it failed to document how its stockpiles of anthrax and other prohibited ammunition has been disposed of. Yes, the resolution did not state that in case of non-compliance, armed action is authorized, nor did it use the all neccessary means clause as the Resolution authorizing war in Kuwait has, but there was a case for the WMD threat at the time that was shared by the international community. It was not just the US inventing the whole thing from the ground up.

 

[Baguette Eater]

What does the United Nations Space Command has to do with Iraq

 

[NPC99]

What does the United Nations Space Command has to do with Iraq

GW boldly when where there were no WMDs to get the guy who tried to kill his dad.

 

[Kentucky 『 ＨＥＩＧＵＩ 』 James]

It was not just the US inventing the whole thing from the ground up.

There never is a completely made up justification for war, I'm sure you know that. However, what makes these seem "less justified", even if you don't believe how much the US literally did make up about the WMDs, is how excessive the use of force was, how unevenly the logic was applied to other similar cases, and how loose their long term goals were, making it apparent that the justification was just a cover for the geopolitical ambitions that underline every war.

 

[Mad Vader]

So South Osetia is going to have a referendum on joining Russia, because Russia is consolidating unlawful conquests while everybody hates them anyway.
But what really irked me enough to post here is this short backgrounder by the Guardian, which is hugely misleading and reads like revisionist history.

In August 2008, Russia launched an assault against Georgia, which was battling pro-Russian militia in South Ossetia, after they shelled Georgian villages. The fighting ended five days later with a European Union-mediated ceasefire, but claimed more than 700 lives and displaced tens of thousands of ethnic Georgians.

 

[Orion]

it is admittedly extremely funny that you interpret it like this when i literally said i generally think of you as smart enough to figure it out even if you choose not to, and that it is fine if you choose not to.

You either make some effort to communicate, or you drop the "I could tell you why you are wrong, but you are too ignorant for me to bother", which is straight up baiting.

^^

 

[Antoine de Saint-Exupéry]

ah, i am telling him why he's wrong. subtext is normal communication!

 

[Mad Vader]

Do we talk about US school shootings anymore or are we in the acceptance phase? Now it was a bunch of kids killed in Texas.
How is our favorite Texan @eddiemccandless handling this?

As soon as the news broke, the far-right boys started posting fake news and disinformation that the shooter was a trans Mexican illegal immigrant. It's astounding how these stories make the rounds despite the much needed fact checks.

 

[Adorno]

I figured it was just another "one of those" not worth mentioning.
It was a border patrol officer who shot the guy, so that should please the right wingers.

In other news the inquiry into lockdown parties in the UK has some juicy stuff (heavy drinking and fights).
But Johnson seems to survive everything. I would feel like a complete fool if I was a UK politician, on any side of the spectrum.

Partygate: Key official wrote 'We seem to have got away with it'

Messages, released in Sue Gray's report, reveal how senior civil servants discussed partying plans.

www.bbc.com

Another wrote: "Done, Looking forward to a chilled WTF [Wine Time Friday] next week",

What is this granddad lingo?

 

[Mad Vader]

Maybe I lack morals, but I'm puzzled how this could be a substantive story. It's not related to actually important stuff like funneling public money into your friends' pockets or screwing over the poor with a new budget. I realize it affects voter sentiment as a part of a series of Boris scandals making him look like a liar and a hypocrite, so he's becoming vulnerable to Labour attacks and becoming an election liability for the Tories. But it's not about doing his job badly, which should be the focus.

I figured it was just another "one of those" not worth mentioning.
It was a border patrol officer who shot the guy, so that should please the right wingers.

It's 19 small kids and 2 teachers, it's kind of a big deal. Politically, it puts pressure on NRA-supported politicians which may or may not go somewhere constructive, like a legislative gain for anti-gun Dems in Congress.
Which is why the Republicans went for another round of "but what about Hunter Biden".

 

[Draco Wrath]

ah, i am telling him why he's wrong. subtext is normal communication!

I'm not sure if in all my years of posting and lurking in this forum that I have seen you make a genuine attempt to debate in good faith without compulsively indicating your superior understanding of the topic, then fail to explain further and put the onus of discussion on the one who you respond to. Proceeding to lampoon the latter for questioning this extremely odd form of discussion, and the classic lack of capitalization.

 

[Antoine de Saint-Exupéry]

some of the people here who know me like me, others don't. either is fine, and i understand why they come to those conclusions. you, however, do not know me. do not pretend otherwise.

 

[Draco Wrath]

This has been a public forum for over a decade, if someone has the ability to read and been present its quite easy to ascertain how a person has engaged in discussion in the past. I for one have been around for quite some time, and frankly "knowing" you is irrelevant. I harbor no feelings about you at all. This isn't a personal attack, it's an observation.

 

[Antoine de Saint-Exupéry]

fair, actually.

if you've been around for anything as long as the forum has been public (ie what i meant by know me), you know that i am more than willing to discuss things in detail and at length. though of course you also know that most of those posts are long since deleted. i'm sure you must remember.

 

[Draco Wrath]

Fair enough.

I've observed this behavior from you before, that may very well explain this perception.